Our Story

River Pines Counseling was founded by our father/daughter provider team in 2022 with a vision of creating a nature-inspired boutique-style mental health therapy option for adults seeking support with life changes and challenges. Our career purpose is all about helping clients find a deep sense of peace, joy, and hope. Typically our clients want less stress, anxiety, depression, and relationship conflict. They want new perspectives, greater self-insight, and coping skills with practical tools. Above all, clients come to us because they trust us. We listen without judgment and provide unbiased perspectives and resources.

Why did Rod and Darcy Stivland decide to start River Pines Counseling together?

They felt compelled to serve the mounting mental health challenges of the community in a significant and unique way. Darcy and Rod recognized that their combined breadth of experiences and values were complementary and well aligned to deliver critical community needs.

Rod Stivland spent a lifetime creating and directing numerous businesses for clinical psychotherapy, adolescent group homes, and family crisis support. He was a key partner to several counties in Minnesota where he responded to acute community mental health needs, mentored providers, and counseled clients of all ages. Rod has personal experience as a caregiver. He supported his partner of 35 years through a difficult journey with her Alzheimer’s disease. During the course of that experience, Rod became interested in helping other caregivers. He now offers psychotherapy for adult clients, many of whom are seniors, caregivers, couples. Rod is the Chief Executive Officer and business ownership partner for River Pines. More about Rod Stivland

Darcy Stivland spent 25 years as a human resources leader, executive coach, and wellness counselor. She then decided to take her healthcare industry experience and utilize it in a new direction to serve clients more directly. She became a licensed professional counselor and clinical psychotherapist. Darcy proceeded to serve as a provider within two large mental healthcare clinic systems. Darcy continues to work with executive coaching clients, along with being a psychotherapist. She is the Executive Director and business ownership partner for River Pines. More about Darcy Stivland

We are grateful to do this work. Welcome to River Pines Counseling!

Our Values

We believe that clients heal and grow best through self-discovery, tuning into their unique strengths, and clearing overwhelming noise. We believe that creating a safe harbor for exploring, processing, and learning is critical. We value authentic, transparent, and compassionate communication. We respect each client’s right to their individual values, goals, and therapy priorities. Integrity and empowerment are to be demonstrated with every client and every interaction. We believe in providing practical, evidence-based, action-oriented tools, resources, and assessments.

Our Clients

We work with adults. We offer sessions for both individuals and couples. Many of our clients are healthcare providers, first responders, law enforcement, aviation pilots, seniors, veterans, and leaders. We also do significant work with clients wanting help with anxiety, depression, trauma, loss and grief, insomnia, health journeys, wellness, life transitions, parenting, and relationships.

Our Services

We provide mental health evaluation and diagnosis when clients work through their insurance providers. Referrals for psychiatry medication management services may be provided for effective coordinated care. When clients are not working through insurance, we provide a coaching approach, without diagnosis. We help all clients create actionable self-development plans, along with tools and resources. More about our Services

Our Expertise

We are experienced clinical psychotherapists with the ability to assess, diagnose, make referrals, and guide clients through treatment and development plans. We utilize evidence-based practices backed with credible research. We have advanced practice skills with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT),  neuropsychology, health and wellness, change and transition, emotional intelligence, and leadership.

River Pines Counselors are  Darcy Stivland and Rod Stivland